Streamyx

In a world where broadband internet access is everyone's goal, one device rules them all: the awesome HTC Shift.

Due to be released on Orange very soon, the HTC Shift is all set to shake up the world of mobile broadband, because it is, simply, the ultimate all-in-one solution. Combining all the good stuff of a UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC, to the uninitiated) with a built-in HSDPA modem, it's the perfect tool for getting the internet on the move.

Features of the HTC Shift

Known round the world as an Ultra-Mobile PC, or a sub-laptop, the HTC Shift is an absolute powerhouse of a device. The trap many are going to fall into, though, thinking it's a mobile phone. Because it's not, it won't do phone calls (and dear lord, if it was, that'd be one BIG mobile phone!) What we have here is essentially a laptop in a squashed-down body. You know it's a fully featured PC, because it comes complete with Windows Vista Business, the latest in the long line of Windows operating systems, designed to give you all the grunt and power of a what you might call a 'proper' laptop. But combined with that, it also includes a stripped down version of Windows Mobile. Why, you may ask? Well, once you've finished using one of the many programs in Vista, you just switch it to mobile mode, and you get a lot of functionality, and you get your messages, without Vista being left on, draining the battery. That's just an awesomely clever thing for HTC to have built into the Shift.

And then, of course, you have a long, long list of other features. You have full Office functionality, you have full internet functionality and of course, full email functonality. So, whether you're using the HTC Shift for work, rest or play, it will instantly shift (geddit?) into whatever gear you need! Add in to that a massive 7 inch screen, and security in the form of biometrics (fingerprint scanner, the ultimate in security, to you and me), and it makes the HTC Shift one hell of a powerful device.

Mobile broadband - the future!

But the HTC Shift mobile PC's real party trick is mobile broadband. At speeds of up to 3.6Mbps. Built in. Just imagine that for a second. You're out on the train, trying to organise tickets to go see a film after work. The cinema's automated booking service is a nightmare. But you're not worried, because you have an HTC Shift, so you change it from Windows Mobile to Vista mode (a process that takes all of, ooh one button-press!), and book the tickets online. And then jump on Messenger and tell your friend the tickets are booked without having to pay for a phone call.And all the time you do it, you'll be getting that lovely warm feeling inside, knowing that with mobile broadband, you're getting internet speeds twice as fast as the average your friends get, sat at home!